Five days after mourners filled the iconic St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York for an irreverent “homecoming” funeral for actor and author Cecilia Gentili, New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan said he believes the “cathedral acted extraordinarily well.”
In a recording released Feb. 20 of the SIRIUS XM radio show “Conversation with Cardinal Dolan,” the cardinal praised the priests at St. Patrick’s for making a quick decision “that with behavior like this we can’t do a Mass. We’ll do Liturgy of the Word — the readings — and the sermon and prayers of petition and the Our Father.” The service “got worse with the eulogies that were very irreverent and disrespectful,” he added.
The 52-year-old Gentili, an Argentine native who had battled sexual abuse from age 6 and trafficking, as well as homelessness, heroin addiction and incarceration, died Feb. 6 of unnamed causes.
Gentili was the founder and principal consultant of Trans Equity Consulting and an advocate for the decriminalization of sex work.
The service featured “Mass cards and a picture near the altar showed a haloed Ms. Gentili surrounded by the Spanish words for ‘transvestite,’ ‘whore,’ ‘blessed’ and ‘mother’ above the text of Psalm 25,” The New York Times reported. Many mourners, it said, sported attire that included “glittery miniskirts and halter tops, fishnet stockings, sumptuous fur stoles and at least one boa sewed from what appeared to be $100 bills.”
At one point, an individual, speaking in Spanish, described Gentili as “esta puta, esta gran puta, la Santa Cecilia, la madre de todas las putas … danos la fuerza y el coraje” (“this bitch, this grand bitch, St. Cecilia, the mother of all bitches … give us strength and courage”).
After more descriptions of what went on, there’s this response:
On the radio show, which is co-hosted by Paulist Father Dave Dwyer, executive director of Busted Halo, Cardinal Dolan praised Father Salvo for his statement, adding that “when scandal (and) acts of disrespect toward the church go on, it does cause us a lot of anguish. I think our cathedral acted extraordinarily well.”
The LGBTQ group that arranged the funeral said Feb. 20 it wants “accountability” from the cathedral for shortening the service from a full Mass to a shorter liturgy without the Eucharist.
“A public apology will also be requested from the Archdiocese of New York for the painfully dismissive and exclusionary language used in their recent statement,” said GLITS Inc. (Gays and Lesbians Living in a Transgender Society) in a news release announcing it will hold a news conference with political and religious leaders and community members about the matter at City Hall Feb. 21.
St. Patrick’s, we have a problem.
I think this would be a good opportunity for the two parties to start talking to each other, not past each other, and to stop using statements and press releases and media outlets to try and score points in the public square. It’s Lent. Perhaps it’s time to fast from acrimony and offer alms of reconciliation and an effort to sow peace. The Archdiocese of New York and the LGBTQ group that arranged the funeral should meet, dialogue, explain what happened and why, from both perspectives. They should speak up. And they should listen. Perhaps Fr. James Martin could serve as a facilitator. Each side needs to better understand the other.
